#like you can like another ship or have another ship whatever

[bunnys-kisses]

https://www.tumblr.com/bunnys-kisses/768349619894861824/im-holding-your-hand-when-im-saying-this-as-a?source=share

people started asking crane (Max’s friend) on stream if Lestappen (Charles and max) is real. I think he was like “I shouldn’t be furthering/entertaining this” (I forgot what he said word for word). People took it as something to be excited about, that the drivers are aware of the ships and all, but idk. I think fandoms are getting too bold for my liking. I have no problem with shipping, but this parasocial behaviour is out of hand. I saw this when 1D was still a group (with Harry x Louis shippers harassing Louis to the point where he got so upset when the ship was referenced in the popular show Euphoria), I’ve seen it with Kpop in which idols have stopped hanging out publicly because fandoms get out of hand (a girl in the group Aespa had a boyfriend earlier this year and fans got very upset because they shipped her and another member and they broke up. A few years ago, 2 members of two different kpop groups (SNSD and EXO) dated and the girl got harassed at the airport even). And now this.

Fandoms get so parasocial so quickly, it’s insane. It’s not new behaviour, but it’s strange.

exactly, this isn't new behavior. but i feel like it's become more emboldened with how much more "online" both fans and companies/groups are.

more under the cut, because this is a long one....

i also think it ties into this notion that i've been seeing online about how fans have this feeling to be "right" both with rpf and fiction as well. that their theories, opinions and whatever else is "correct". i've seen this with like pieces of media like steven universe and even star wars. like fandom isn't fun anymore, it has become this weird one up over each other. i honestly don't know when this changed, my guess is around the pandemic when it seemed like people were more logged into the internet. but, i could be wildly off with that. (if you have an idea, i'd love to know). it just feels stupid in so many ways how fandoms are structured. even if you're not the "best" artist or writer, people can't have FUN in fandom - of course that doesn't mean it has to be absolved criticism. you can have fun and still call out hate within spaces. the issue with formula one (along with k-pop like you mentioned, anon), is that these aren't characters. this isn't arguing in the tags over is finnpoe or reylo is more valid or legitimate within the narrative. these are REAL people, with REAL friends, families and partners.

it's this weird push to have someone's theory - and while i have a soft spot for lestappen, it is at the end of the day nothing more than fan theory - be confirmed. also personally, if hattie (oscar's sister) or crane (max's friend) "outed" them, i would be horribly fucking offended on oscar/max's behalf. to have someone you TRUST just out you like that. it's sick. maybe it's because i worked in queer spaces from high school all the way through uni, and the number one rule no matter WHAT, is you never out someone. even if the question is harmless and the person asking has no ill intention. you never out another person, because it's not YOUR coming out. so the fact that fans are near begging these people to OUT their loved ones, is not only a level of delusion that i can't ever comprehend. but, also it could honestly, ruin that interpersonal relationship.

so like even if a driver is queer, whoever it may be. could be a driver from the 90s, could be a driver today, it could be a driver in five years, i don't want someone else in their life outing them. because that's THEIR story. and fans need to realize that. bothering crane or hattie or alexandra (i've seen that too) - isn't helping anyone and it makes you look unhinged and weirdly alienates not only the driver but their loved ones. YES, they knew it exists, it is EVERYWHERE. but shoving it in their faces doesn't help. and you're never going to get the confirmation because there is a high chance that their not even queer to begin with. and if they are, NOT OUR CONCERN

i don't have a problem writing or consuming rpf, it is not a crime nor do i think it should be stopped. like HAVE FUN. but you have to realize that it's not like debating star wars or marvel or whatever other piece of fictional media. formula one is REAL, they are not actors. they are athletes, and unless you want all rpf to be shut down some how. i suggest the likes of some of ya'll need to understand that there are different boundaries. and respect them.

i know they're all millionaires, but they still breathe and bleed as a friend of mine once said. it's fun to put them in little scenarios in fanworks, but just keep it out of their direct attention. there are unspoken boundaries, that some of ya'll need have said to you apparently.

asking oscar issac if he THINKS that finnpoe is real is VERY different than asking someone's sister if she thinks her REAL LIFE BROTHER is fucking his REAL LIFE TEAMMATE. - people's relationships have turned to ash over insistent rpf in their faces all the time.

my advice at the end of the day is: have fun, don't write or draw it because you want confirmation that it's a real relationship. write or draw it because you're having fun. fandom is about making friends and shipping in whatever context is about finding a slice of community on the vast internet, not cracking the code of if it is a real relationship. - bunny.

[applebuttercringe]

I also ship Jayvik and I don’t think a platonic read of their relationship is impossible. Arcane is full of characters who sacrifice everything for each other and not all of them are romantic. Heimerdinger dies to help Ekko, Silco gives up him empire for Jinx, Vander gave up the fight for Vi and Powder, Vi and Powder risk their lives for each other constantly.

The idea that you can’t sacrifice for another person, or die for them, or whatever if it is platonic is wrong. It treats platonic love as inferior to romantic love. As if it is inherently less deeply felt than romantic love. This is normally only talked about in Asexual circles but friendships can be and are as deep, fulfilling, and affectionate as romantic relationships. They are different but neither is inherently inferior. They don’t need to be more than friends to love each other.

That being said we do know that the arcane writers and animators were aware of Jayvik and purposefully wrote the story to be open to that interpretation. They knew what people wanted and leaned into it. Still, it’s not like people who view this as platonic are delusional or stupid. We desperately need more close male friendships in media, and just like how Jayvik isn’t explicitly stated to be platonic, it also isn’t explicitly romantic. The Jayce/Viktor relationship is undefined, all we know for sure is the depth of their love. Do whatever you view as the deepest and most meaningful form of love is what they have. Also platonic and romantic reads of the story aren’t in conflict with each other. They can coexist, because your feelings for another person often aren’t black and white.

Jayvik can be platonic or romantic 👍

I'm seeing all these people saying 'Jayce and Viktor were just friends' and 'can't 2 guys be friends in media anymore?'. No, they were definitely more than friends. They very clearly loved each other (platonically or romantically). Their relationship was something more than just friendship.

Like, if you're doing this with your homies I have news for you and you're not gonna like them

[balioc]

Looking at the world from a manager's perspective, you can productively model the pool of workers as being divided into a few basic groups, which are defined and characterized by their driving motivations.

Insert all the usual disclaimers for this sort of thing - this is the roughest type of rough typology. I pulled these categories out of my raw intuition, and possibly a few more would crop up with some additional thought. In reality, the boundaries of these categories are incredibly fuzzy, and almost every individual is actually going to be motivated by a complicated mix of all the relevant motivations; we're talking REALLY SIMPLE HEURISTICS here. Etc.

There have been other well-known worker typologies that share a lot in common with my thoughts here; this is mostly not novel, it's mostly meant to refine a few ideas for particular purposes.

Hustlers are motivated by concrete personal advantage. Most commonly, and most straightforwardly, they want money - as much of it as they can get. They may also be interested in fame, idiosyncratic perks, etc. They do whatever they have to do in order to get what they want.

No surprise: you see huge preponderances of these guys in fields that provide outsize concrete rewards, e.g. finance, the upper echelons of management, etc. But not every natural-born Hustler is in a position to enter a glitzy high-paying field, and in fact you find Hustlers all throughout society and all throughout the economy, finding or making hustles wherever they go.

Having Hustlers working for you is mostly pretty great. They get shit done. They can be induced to work incredibly hard - probably harder than anyone else, under most circumstances - and they'll shank their own mothers if the price is right. If you need anything really important from them, anything at all, it's just a matter of bribing them enough.

...they will also, of course, cheerfully shank you if the price is right. Hustlers aren't the only wellsprings of institutional politics and infighting, but they're the most dangerous ones; they're always potential rivals to everyone around them. Also, you need to keep the tangible rewards flowing in a steady stream in order to get anything out of them, or else they'll put most of their effort into jumping ship (one way or another).

Craftsmen are motivated by the desire to do good work in their chosen fields, for its own sake and for the sake of their treasured self-image as people who do good work.

As you'd expect, for the most part, they're excellent workers and should be prized. But they're not perfect workers. Common weaknesses and downsides include:

They tend to have their own ideas about How Things Should Get Done; they're often resistant to externally-imposed product/service requirements or process changes (and bad at implementing those things) (no matter how important or well-conceived they are), and they're very resistant to "just get it out the door, right now done is better than good."

Being driven chiefly by internal motivation is great, but sometimes it's useful to be able to push things along with external motivators, and Craftsmen are pretty resistant to those. They don't like working more or harder than they're naturally inclined to work, they mostly sneer at carrots, and sticks make them sad and unproductive.

It's important to note that, while noteworthy skill within a field correlates with having a Craftsman temperament and motivation suite - for obvious reasons - those things are not identical at all. Plenty of Craftsmen are bad at their jobs, or just average, and plenty of the best workers are most motivated by things other than the Excellence of the Work Itself.

Fanatics are a relatively rare and specialized group, whom you find mostly within a few specific sorts of culturally-valorized fields. They're motivated by a desire to be part of something Important and Good in a Broader Sense: to Save the World, or some smaller-bore version of that.

They make amazing front-line soldiers, in the sorts of institutions that have "front-line soldiers." They work super hard, and you don't even need to bribe them, you just need to keep them hopped up on inspiration.

The big problem with them is that they're mostly motivated by a feeling - the feeling of Being Righteous - and it's not easy to control where they get that feeling, in any kind of precise way. They're just as resistant to external motivators as Craftsmen are, or even more so, but they're also not being guided by an ideal of effective quality. (No, not even if their chosen cause is theoretically all about an ideal of effective quality, hem hem.) They will happily waste vast amounts of time and money doing useless things, or even counterproductive things, so long as they're engaged in tasks that hit the right psychological buttons for them. There's also a constant risk that a Fanatic will decide that his employer is unrighteous, or that one of his coworkers is unrighteous, and start an internal conflict; the risk scales in a more-than-linear fashion with the number of Fanatics you keep around.

The biggest group, unsurprisingly, is the Normies. In most fields, it is much the biggest group. Normies are motivated by the desire to be members in good standing of their communities, to have positive relationships with the people around them, and to live up to basic norms and expectations.

Managerial skills, in the traditional sense, are incredibly important with Normies. If you want them to do good work for you - and you should want that, as a manager, you've almost certainly got a whole bunch of them - not only do you have to keep them pointed in the right direction, you have to make sure that they're supporting each other. With Hustlers, you just have to throw money at them (and avoid their power plays); with Craftsmen, you just have to let them do their thing, and occasionally badger them into giving you what you need; with Fanatics, you just have to be inspirational; but with Normies, you have to lead, and construct a productive community. You have to set reasonable, achievable norms and expectations that will get you what you need.

This wouldn't be complete if I didn't talk about the Defectors. The Defectors are motivated by not working. They don't want to be there, they resent having to do their jobs, and their primary goal is to shirk as much as possible. They will, by default, put much more effort into shirking than into their assigned tasks.

Obviously, managers don't want to have to deal with them, for good reason. But they're out there, in large numbers - not always in the places and fields where you'd expect to find them - and learning to manage them is sometimes more viable than trying to get rid of them. ("Moving Heaven and Earth to find them jobs that will change their attitude" is often a good plan, although of course it's not always possible and not always worth it.)

Crucially, Defectors are not Normies. If you start with the assumption that the average baseline worker is lazy and sour, you will make some incredibly stupid decisions. There are some fields where, for structural reasons, you can expect that a very large number of your workers will be Defectors; this is a huge and complicated challenge, well beyond the scope of this post, and good luck to you if you have to handle it, but it's not the default.

----------------------

Once you have those categories in your head, and can play with them, a number of obvious-seeming ideas present themselves. Just a couple, for now:

Most high-level executives are Hustlers, or have strong Hustler tendencies, for obvious reasons. Most of the people around them are Hustlers, or have strong Hustler tendencies. This means that they tend to overweight the Hustler outlook, by a lot, when they try to model what their workers are like. More specifically, I'd wager that a lot of them intuitively divide the world into "good workers" ( = Hustlers) and "bad workers" ( = Defectors). This will lead to a heavy overreliance on tangible rewards, a systematic shortchanging of community-building, etc. Which is in fact just what we see.

In particular - crucially - Hustlers and Defectors are the only worker types who ever become more productive under heavy stress. Hustlers actually benefit from it, because it raises the stakes of the game that they're already playing. (If you succeed, you'll be king of the world! If you fail, you'll be shark food! Go go go!) Defectors suffer terribly from stress, of course, but they can sometimes be spooked into doing their jobs as opposed to doing nothing, and sometimes that's the best/easiest way to get something out of them. But stress is terrible for everyone else. Craftsmen lose their focus. Fanatics lose their hope. It's worst of all for Normies, because they take all their cues from the vibes around them; they're productive when they learn to associate work with comfort and happiness, and when you fill their working world with frantic desperation, you just put them in a permanent cringe state.

stop trying to pit your Normies against each other in competitions for status and rewards dear God what are you stupid

To some extent, you can control your institution by controlling what types of workers you have. But only to some extent. There are only so many Hustlers and Craftsmen to go around, and if you want them, you will have to (a) be able to identify them reliably on little information [HINT: you are probably very bad at this], and (b) provide them with what they want [tangible rewards / comfortable security and interesting work]. "We are going to employ only the good special people" is feasible if you're an outfit of four workers; at a dozen, it's already become a stretch; at a few hundred, uh, pfffffffft. If you want to operate at scale, you need to be able to make Normies do good work, there is no substitute for it.

[soundrodcelebration]

This has been an exciting year for the Soundrod nation. We are now in the top ten transformers ships on AO3. As of November 27 we have written 600 fics on AO3. We have written countless Tumblr posts and have made numerous edits. Which has allowed our ship to grow.

To celebrate our wins we would like everyone to post either one fanfiction, one artwork or one edit.

We will not be doing Prompts. You can write, draw or edit whatever you want as long as it celebrates Soundrod.

Rules:

Must be done sometime in the month of December. If it's a fanfiction it can be however long you want.

Make sure to tag us so we can see your post and celebrate your work.

Use #soundrodcelebration

You can have other ships besides Soundrod as long as they are in the background.

This will be 18+ and could potentially have sensitive/ adult content. Please tag appropriately otherwise we can’t accept.

You can have ocs (For example if you create a fic where Hot Rod and Soundwave have a sparkling) As long as they are not the main character.

No Hot Rod/reader/Soundwave or any ship that combines Hot Rod and Soundwave with another person. (Ex: Hot Rod/Soundwave/Megatron)

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[manic-sapphic]

catra season 4 - moments she couldn't fake it

and choosing to step out from behind the rubble after they were teleported onto prime's ship just in time to save glimmer's life. and buy time for the rest of etheria, too. i love that she walks over and stands beside glimmer, facing prime, who keeps his hand on glimmer's face the whole time catra's talking. you can tell she already knows this guy is reeeal bad news and is tryna think on her feet to convince him to back off for as long as she can.

i definitely think the whole move she made there was one of very intentional protection - at the time, i'd guess it was mostly cause glimmer was one of adora's best friends - and let's be real, she'd been regretting how much she hurt adora throughout most of season 4 and hating herself for it but tryna mask it and convince herself she'd feel better if she could just finally win.

but then when they were, she was still miserable. so, after feeling sick and tired of hurting adora for so long, she puts a pause on prime murdering glimmer right then and there, then likely turning to etheria to do what she later watches him doing on another planet through one of the windows of his flagship - blasting the whole place to bits until it would be left an uninhabited wasteland.

i don't think she had all her shit figured out yet, not even close, but she invited glimmer to end her life when she found her in the fright zone, her ability to deceive herself completely shattered and the reality of just how horribly she'd ruined her own life - the ripple effects of which hurt so many others as well, particularly adora, who DT just forced some painful truths about out from the depths of catra's mind, where she'd done her best to bury them.

she hadn't even had the time to fully process all of that before accidentally ending up aboard prime's ship w glimmer. she's not quite there yet, but you can tell her mind is on its way. she ends up bonding w glimmer cause that's her true nature, one she just doesn't have the willpower to keep suppressing anymore. even prime calls her out for having pity for her, but eventually i think she even grows to enjoy visiting her and sees why she and adora are friends, probably racked w guilt and regret thinking that if only she'd gone w adora, she could've been one of those friends too.

but knowing where she is and all the various circumstances of their situation, that chance is lost to her forever. but she realizes that doesn't mean it has to be lost for everybody else. so she saves glimmer, and by extension, not just everyone who's on their way to try and rescue her, but hopefully all of etheria and even the universe by keeping adora and the others away so they'll have the chance to try and take prime down.

she sacrifices herself saying it's just for adora, but i get the feeling she was also doing it for anyone and everyone who it might hopefully save, so desperate to do anything she could possibly manage, wanting so badly to do whatever she could to make up for trying to destroy everything with the portal and all the other harm she'd caused etheria. cause that was never really her or what she wanted, but she could never go back and change what she'd done or have what she wants, and she didn't feel like she deserved to anyway. so she chose to make her final act hers. what she really wanted for everyone. and yeah, especially adora.

[azureapostlesasaki]

Ooc: There's another issue aswell. Sometimes it's not friendship, two guys, HATE each other, beat each other up, try to kill one another, bully each other and the list goes ON ABOUT ALL THE HORRIBLE NEGATIVE TOXIC STUFF THEY DO TO EACH OTHER. The fandoms reaction: "Omg enemies to lovers" "They're so gay💅💅". I saw TONS of SaneGiyu shippers and everytime I silently wondered what on earth possessed them to ship something so toxic. "People can ship whatever they want! There just having fun! It's just for fun!" yeah no. If I shipped Dazai with Akutagawa, would that be right? Would anyone say "they're being kinky🫦🫦" or "That's his way of showing love"(I saw the second one on a clip of Akutagawa beating up Atsushi btw), or "Omg enemies to lovers😍😍"???

No because it's TOXIC. Toxic just like every other not canon, nonsense, boyxboy anime ship out there. I know that Akutagawa and Dazai were Mafiosi and Akutagawa isn't some innocent baby getting abused, but that doesn't mean he doesn't treat him in a toxic manner, and you wouldn't ship it would you?

If people CAN ship whatever they want and it's "for fun", would you say the same for incest, toxic and pedophilliac ship? If I shipped Atsushi with Kyoka, how would people react!?!?! Negatively because Kyoka is 14 while Atsushi is 18. And yet they ship Sebaciel, a 12-13 year old human boy with a 100+, more like 1000+ year old evil demon who wants to eat his soul. Even if the age was right it would still be wrong; because say what you want, in the end Sebastian WILL consume Ciel's soul. Yea, I don't think gay lovers consume each others's souls do they?

SaneGiyu, yea, forget about sexual or romantic tension/energy, THEY DON'T EVEN GET CLOSE TO GIVING OFF FRIENDSHIP ENERGY. They HATE each other to no end, how is this a ship!?!?! They literally have no chemistry. And even if they were a couple, if they existed irl, there would be next level controversy and drama about how toxic their relationship is. The same people would be BEGGING them to break up.

You like these type of ships? Well guess what? You x toxic people who ruined your life/are mean to you is SO CANONNNNN. Ya'll literally give off so much sexual energy omg🫦🫦🫦. That part where he told you to take a swamdive off a roof was SOOO FRUITYYY😍😍😍(Iykyk).

Sorry not sorry. But some people need to read this.

Tw: when I am employing the word « delusional » I am not referring to the medical definition of it.

What I am going to be saying is going to be disliked by some. But I don’t care.

I am going to be talking right now about a phenomenon that I’ve been seeing ever since I started reading mangas and watching anime’s and it has always bothered me.

And guess what ? I am not the only one being bothered by that, which reassures me.

The problem is the following:

Each time there’s a genuine friendship between two male characters or even two females in a manga/anime, people dirty it by gluing on it, their own fantasies and making it somewhat romantic/sexual, by inventing a « sexual tension » between these protagonists.

Always happens in the anime/manga universe.

…and I am going to tell you why it’s a problem/bothersome situation for many :

The problem is that it renders the story less deep and genuine and more people are influenced in thinking that, a male character, by being nice to another male (same for females), is romantic or whatever.

Like some of y’all are sexualising everything. Get it together !

This is, most of the time (actually 99% of the time but okay), LITTERALY delusion because the authors have never, ever meant for their characters to be viewed as anything but genuine friends/acquaintances..

It distorts the story for nothing and, in my opinion, it is disrespectful to the creators of the manga, to just take their characters and create a quiproquo on it. Sorry not sorry to say it.

As an example, let me take the « Dazai x Chuuya » fans.

The readers go as far as to totally disregard the fact that, Dazai, since literally the first episode, has implied that he was not attracted to guys. On top of that, he’s kinda depicted as the guy who likes women. Never ever was anything that would make him attracted to Chuuya as a male.

(It also happens for JJK and others… )

Therefore, you’re disregarding the genuine and complex aspects of a potential friendship and understanding between them, to glue on it what you would have wished it to be : a romantic or sexual attraction. It’s a projection of what YOU would have WANTED it to be.

It is actually immoral to distort a character’s sexuality like what ?! It becomes a habit and people do it also for celebrities. It’s kinda going too far.

It’s not for you to decide.

When it’s « not a big deal » for some, it could actually represent a big deal for many. And make many people uncomfortable.

Respectfully :

You wanna do your fanfics ? NO PROBLEM really ! be our guests ! but do it in the context of a fanfic, after putting on a disclaimer, as a respectful gesture for the creators behind mangas !

(On the other hand, when people write « character x reader », it doesn’t distorts the original story cuz Y/N just doesn’t exist).

BUT rubbing it down our throats without any context as if it was a general truth provided by the creators, that « these characters are in love/sexually attracted to one another » NO. Keep it for yourself or your group of friends if y’all agree on it.

Again, many many people feel as uncomfortable as me regarding this. It’s kinda also getting out of hands.

It’s getting out of hands especially when I see fandoms like the Black butler fandom where they imagine a « sexual tension » between Sebastian that is an adult and Ciel that is 13 !

Like it or not. I am not sorry for being respectful and realistic.

Some decency is needed :

Not everything is okay with what people are doing on the internet. You can have your « dirty thoughts » but don’t expose them, not everyone wishes to hear about it. Some things have to stay between you and yourself.

Kids/ teens :

And kids/teens (all those below 18) y all need to get off your phone a little and go play outside or meet your friends (for teens ig) if you don’t wanna end up in depression at an early age or with extremely poor social skills.

At least take a real book like ones at the school library and learn things. Instead of learning how to .. by reading explicit content cuz you never listen when we tell you that a certain one shot is +18.

Again, I am not sorry. I am pissed.

[maul-of-shame]

Every time someone comes on my post to criticize Elrondriel (Elrond/Galadriel) I take a look at their blog and it's basically this over and over again:

[TW rant following asks and recent comments/ If you like Sauron, don't read ]

It’s honestly so wild how some people will break their backs trying to construct anti-Elrondriel arguments, calling it “unrealistic” or “forced,” and then you scroll through their blogs, and it’s wall-to-wall ships that involve toxic relationships, villains gaslighting heroes into oblivion, or characters stabbing each other and calling it foreplay.

Like, bestie, let’s pause for a moment: you’re out here defending someone who canonically committed war crimes. Someone who thrived on manipulation, psychological warfare, and literal torture. You’re stanning a character whose moral compass is a black hole, and yet, two people who respect each other, understand one another on a profound level, and have a beautiful mix of shared history and personal growth is somehow a problem for you?

Seriously?

Let’s be real here: Sauron is not some “misunderstood, morally grey antihero.” He’s evil. Point blank.

No amount of Pinterest aesthetics, soft lighting, or "but he had a sad backstory!" montages is going to change the fact that Sauron is a villain.

Full stop.

You can slap a flower crown on a dark lord all you want, but it doesn’t make him any less of a genocidal megalomaniac with a penchant for psychological warfare and enthusiastically ruining everyone’s day for literal millennia.

And let’s talk about this "I can fix him" narrative that keeps popping up like an overwatered weed. Some of y’all really think you’re Bob the Builder in Middle-earth. Good for you and your DIY optimism, but call me when Home Depot starts stocking “redemption arcs” in aisle seven, because I’m pretty sure Sauron bought out the “betrayal and manipulation” section years ago and left the shelves empty.

Look, no one’s saying you can’t stan a villain. Loving a good antagonist is a fandom rite of passage! But at least own it.

Don’t try to repackage him as some misunderstood, "morally grey" cinnamon roll. Sauron wasn’t sitting in Barad-dûr journaling about his feelings or knitting regretful little scarves for the people he tormented. He was out there crafting deceptive jewelry and throwing existential crises at elves like party favors.

So if you’re into villains, cool. Embrace the chaos. Love the drama.

But don’t pretend your fave is the blueprint for healthy relationships and then turn around and criticize other ships for being “unrealistic.” The cognitive dissonance there is so intense, even Saruman couldn’t spin it into coherence.

Meanwhile, Elrond and Galadriel? Respect, trust, shared values, and deep emotional understanding. You know, actual relationship foundations. But sure, tell me again how that’s the unbelievable pairing while you write fanfic about Sauron redeeming himself through artisanal bread baking or whatever niche aesthetic you’ve latched onto this week.

It’s absolutely exhausting watching the performative moral superiority Olympics some people seem to be training for. They’ll twist themselves into pretzels to prop up their walking red-flag faves as “complex” and “misunderstood,” while taking every possible swipe at others’ preferences, labeling them “unrealistic” or “forced.” Babe, just own your tastes! No one’s standing at the fandom border, checking passports for problematic faves—except, apparently, you, with your clipboard of insecurities and a stopwatch set to full-on hypocrisy.

Like, you stan someone who literally manipulates entire civilizations for fun, but my ship of two emotionally mature adults who respect and uplift each other is “unrealistic” and "bothering you", "predatory"? Sure, Jan.

This energy is giving “gaslighting but make it fandom.” It’s the same vibe as insisting your favorite villain is actually a misunderstood angel while clutching pearls over two consenting adults making eye contact with genuine affection.

The funniest part is that no one even cares about your villain crushes! Love them! Embrace the morally bankrupt chaos they bring to your life!

Write a 500k fic about them redecorating Mordor with tasteful black-and-silver curtains while learning to love again! But please, for the love of Eru, stop pretending you’re the fandom’s moral compass while policing everyone else’s ships like you’re trying out for the Numenorean Guard!

And can we take a second to marvel at the sheer audacity of it all? You’re out here claiming the “high ground” while simultaneously bulldozing everyone else’s fun like you’ve been possessed by the spirit of Smaug on a bad day. It’s giving Mount Doom energy in a Hobbiton picnic space. If your moral superiority is so fragile that other people’s ships threaten it, maybe it’s time to sit down with a cup of tea (or molten lava, if that’s more your speed) and ask yourself: am I having fun, or am I just here to ruin it for others?

Let’s get one thing straight: he’s not "Lana Del Rey coded", no matter how many smoky aesthetics and moody playlists you slap on your blog.

Sauron isn’t out here wistfully gazing at the sea, writing poetry, and pining for a lost love.

He’s burning the sea and then gaslighting the fish into thinking it was their fault.

You can try to dress him up in melancholy vibes, but he’s still the guy who forged a ring to enslave the literal world. Chic villainy, but make it genocidal.

And let’s talk about this nonsense of calling people “vanilla” or “bland” for preferring loving, supportive ships over toxic dumpster fires. Like, what’s the point here?

Are you the fandom flavor police, walking around with a clipboard and handing out citations for people not loving chaos-coded messes? It’s okay to like loving ships, y’all.

It’s okay to ship people who actually heal each other instead of people who stab each other, literally and emotionally.

You have no idea why someone might gravitate toward wholesome, uplifting ships. Maybe it’s because they’ve experienced violence, toxicity, or manipulation in real life, and fiction is a space where they seek solace and safety.

Maybe they’re just tired of the “I can fix him” trope and prefer the revolutionary idea of “I love him because he’s already emotionally available/caring etc.” And that’s valid!

Calling them “prudes” or “boring” for wanting kindness and respect in their ships isn’t edgy; it’s just shitty.

Not everyone wants to write a five-act tragedy about manipulation and betrayal with a side of murder. Some people just want to see two characters fall in love, hold hands, and work together to save the world. And, shocker: that’s allowed!

Also, can we address how laughable it is to frame Sauron—or any villain, really—as some misunderstood tragic boy when he’s out here committing literal war crimes? Sauron isn’t brooding under a moonlit sky, sipping wine, and whispering, “No one understands me.” He’s torching villages while humming a jaunty tune about how much he loves power. He’s not your soft, angsty love interest. He’s the villain who’d probably betray you mid-sentence if it benefited him.

It’s honestly wild that you’re more bothered by people shipping two characters who respect and uplift each other than you are by someone stanning a genocidal maniac. Like, let’s have some priorities here. You do you, love your chaos ships, but maybe try not to insult people who don’t share your taste.

Everyone gets to enjoy fandom their way.

If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s either a duck...or Quacknnatar slipping on his “harmless mentor” cosplay to trick you into forging world-ending jewelry. And I’m begging you—call him what he is! This man isn’t some misunderstood soft boy humming sad ballads to himself in the Forge of Doom. He’s a literal megalomaniac who saw a whole world of peace and thought, “You know what this needs? A tiny metal frisbee of destruction and me in charge.”

He’s not an edgy antihero. He’s not morally grey. He’s not the misunderstood star of an indie coming-of-age film where he cries in the rain about his daddy issues.

He’s the villain, babes. He’s the guy who’d toss you into Mount Doom with a cheery “It’s nothing personal!” while testing out which angle makes his armor look more intimidating.

You wanna say, “Oh, but Sauron’s complex!” Sure, he’s complex—like a Rube Goldberg machine designed specifically to ruin lives. He’s a liar. He’s manipulative. He’s the guy who sends you an email about inheriting a fortune if you “just click this link,” and somehow the fortune is your soul.

Let’s not act like he’s just a misunderstood elf trying his best, either. Quacknnatar came into Eregion wearing a smile and a giant neon sign that said, ‘Trust me, I’m definitely not evil!’

And y’all bought it like it was on clearance at the Middle-earth Costco!!!

He’s not tragic, he’s strategic.

You don’t need to psychoanalyze his actions to make him sound redeemable. He doesn’t need redemption—he needs a one-way ticket to the Void, express delivery.

So please, for the love of the Valar, stop wrapping him in Pinterest aesthetics and whispering, “I can fix him.”

You can’t.

Celebrimbor couldn’t.

Morgoth made him, and even Morgoth couldn’t deal with him by the end. He’s not your DIY project. He’s Middle-earth’s walking disaster, and no amount of soft lighting or melancholic playlists will change that.

Call him what he is: a liar, a manipulator, a villain. And if you still wanna stan him, fine, live your villain-loving life! Just own it. But please stop pretending he’s the misunderstood protagonist of some Tolkien soap opera. If he walks like a dark lord, talks like a dark lord, and schemes like a dark lord…he’s a dark lord, or he’s trying really hard to be. Ducks, dark lords, and Quacknnatar—you know ‘em when you see ‘em.

[waterfire1848]

Au where Ozai is still imperialist and strict but at least decent father

Hello, anon!

First of all, there is no competition between Zuko and Azula. Ozai never forces them to compete for his "love" so they never come to view one another as competition. Ozai is still disappointed that Zuko isn't a stronger bender but he never lets that show. He admits it in talks with Ursa, but makes sure to tell Zuko that he's proud of any of his improvements and encourages Azula to get along with more people in her school so she can grow outside of just training. Also, if he's a decent father, he and Ursa don't really bump up against any issues either. Ursa sees that Ozai is giving love and attention to both children and so she doesn't try to give the majority of her attention to Zuko. Overall, the fire family is much better. What this means is that by the time Azula is eight and Zuko is ten, they are part of a much more loving family that is still strict and has military tendencies but they also have a father who really cares about them.

When Azulon orders Zuko to be killed, Ozai goes to Ursa and tells her what Azulon said. (Ursa: He wants you to WHAT!? Ozai: Can you keep it down! We don't want the whole palace to hear us. Ursa: You're sure? You're sure that's what he wanted? Ozai: I'm positive. Ursa: What do we do? I could take Zuko and Azula. Ozai: I know, but even if you did that, Azulon would know that you took Zuko. No, Azulon needs to die. Ursa: You'd kill your own father? The Fire Lord? Ozai: For my son? Yes.) Azulon still dies but Ursa remains because Ozai knows his children need their mother. Now Fire Lord, life carries on pretty normally until the big war meeting. Ozai doesn’t like that Zuko spoke out but more so because it wasn’t his: it was bad manners. He scolds Zuko and tells him he is no longer allowed at war meetings until he learns to speak as a prince should. The Agni Kai never happens, Zuko is never banished and never scarred.

Years pass and while Ozai is strict since he’s a good father, Zuko and Azula grow up in a much better household and with less trauma. Iroh does return but Zuko doesn’t rely on him as much since his mom is still around and Ozai is kind to him. Zuko eventually learns to conduct himself like a true prince and Azula perfects her bending. Together the two are the deadliest siblings in the royal family history in generations. Zuko expands his firebending ability but he also gets lessons from his father and Azula on strategy and how to rule. While both siblings would have plenty of influence from their father since this mother is around they would also have a lot of influence from her. Ursa is still around gently reminding the kids that maybe Ozai’s way of “sacrifice/burn everyone” might not be the right approach. Ozai doesn’t like that at all. To fix this, he sends Zuko on the same question that he, Iroh, Azulon and Sozin all went on, calling it a rite of passage, to find the Avatar. This isn’t a punishment or banishment but just Ozai trying to keep Zuko away from Ursa for a while so she doesn’t completely corrupt him. Ozai sends Zuko with his title still in tact, a ship, resources, and whatever else he could possibly need for his time at sea.

Zuko is still in the Earth Kingdom when Aang is finally broken out of the ice. This allows Aang to travel for a while without Zuko on his tail and, since Zuko is still the Prince of the Fire Nation, he can order Zhao to not go after Aang and Zhao has to listen. Aang is just barely able to get the North Pole before a similar battle breaks out. Zuko fails this time around but rather than Azula being sent to capture him, Zuko asks for Azula to be sent out so she can help. When Azula arrives, Zuko gets her up to speed and the two head out to try and capture the Avatar. Iroh comes along with them, still wanting to try and convince them that their father’s way isn’t the right one but since Ozai was a decent father and the two aren’t really competing anymore, Iroh’s words don’t have the same effect that they would in canon. In fact, they would fiercely defend their father’s actions and the Fire Nation’s ways. (Azula: Our father is a great and kind man! What he’s doing is for the betterment of the nations! Iroh: My niece, you are a smart girl, surely you can see that his actions are only for himself. Zuko: How dare you talk about our father like that?! He only wants to help the other nations progress and bring greatness to them! All you’ve ever done is sit around and wait for someone else to fix your mistakes!) (Fun fact. These are the same words Zuko uses when he and Azula take over Ba Sing Se).

With Ba Sing Se conquered, Zuko does actually start to notice that maybe imperialism isn’t that great. His father was right to be weary of Ursa’s teachings because it’s through her teachings that he sees something wrong with how the Fire Nation soldiers treat the captured civilians. When he tries to tell Azula or even his father, the two ignore him, saying that this is just a part of war but Zuko still feels off. (Ozai: Zuko, do you remember when you were six and we were out here by the turtleduck pond? Zuko: Yes. Ozai: And do you remember that one baby turtleduck that hatched but was missing two legs? Zuko: I do. Ozai: What did I do? Zuko: You put it out of its misery. You said you were doing a kindness. Ozai: And I was. That poor baby couldn’t swim, hunt or even walk properly. What kind of life is that? When you were born, you were similar to that baby turtleduck. You were weak but I didn’t want to give up on you. I knew you could become something great and I was right. The other nations are also similar to that baby and you. They can become something great but they need to the guidance to get there. Do you understand? Zuko: I do. Ozai: Do you trust me to do that? Like I did for you. Zuko:….Yeah. Yeah, I do. Ozai: That’s my boy.) Needless to say, Zuko does not change sides. Iroh is the one who teaches Aang firebending and he’s the one made Fire Lord when the Fire Nation loses. The four Fire Nation family members are locked up, but Iroh wants to believe that maybe Zuko and Azula can change. (They kinda throw this believe out the window with how devoted they are to their father who has been nothing but kind to them).

Alternative ending (I couldn’t get my mind away from this idea). Zuko and Ozai face Aang and win. Azula defeats Katara and the Fire Nation overall is victorious. The Gaang, including the White Lotus, are locked up in prison and set to be executed. Working together, Zuko and Azula go on to rule the Earth Kingdom while Ozai rules the Fire Nation. Minus the North Pole, the Fire Nation officially claims victory in the war and over the entire world with Zuko and Azula remaining completely loyal to their father.

[its-your-mind]

[ashortdropandasuddenstop]

James leaned back in his chair, a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips as he regarded Killian. “I’ll admit, you’ve managed to paint a rather unsettling picture of this place. Sounds more like a cursed utopia than a true sanctuary.” His gaze flicked briefly toward the chart again. “A place where even immortality isn’t enough to grant peace. So, in the end, you were trapped by far more than the island itself. "

He shook his head, more out of disbelief than judgment. “Still, to be fair, I’m sure I’d trade cursed pirates for the company of mad children. "

James felt the brief contact of their shoulders, and though he made an effort to remain composed, there was an odd, inexplicable sensation that crept up his spine. He shifted slightly, trying to focus on the words Killian was speaking, but the closeness lingered in his thoughts longer than he cared to admit.

He cleared his throat, pushing aside whatever strange flutter had arisen in his chest, and looked Killian directly in the eye. "Sounds like Pan’s a twisted version of something far worse than just a child with the ability to fly." James’s tone was calm, though his mind was still distracted by the strange moment, his gaze flickering to the brandy bottle as he tried to regain his composure. " No wonder you speak of him with such disdain."

James couldn't help but scoff at the thought, the corners of his lips curling into a faint smirk. "If you'd gone down that path, I'd have found a way to stop you. I don't care how many ships you've sunk or forts you've destroyed. The English navy has a way of dealing with pests like you. A thorn, sure, but one that can be pruned away with the right tactics."

He leaned back, studying Killian's confident demeanor with a more calculating eye. "The king might be humiliated now, but he has an endless supply of men and ships to throw at any problem. You'd be just another target in the grand scheme of things."

"It's quite a beautiful island, lush jungle with plentiful fruits and wild boar among other animals to hunt. Then there were the fairies and mermaids, a magical place that would be paradise. But Peter Pan and his Lost Boys, children he's kidnapped and brought to the island turned them into crazed savages. Unpredictable and sadistic, I'd gladly would've taken undead pirates over them! We might not have to worry about dying of old age but we are certainly not immortal."

Killian got up from his desk and stepped around to the front to lean up against it beside James, close enough to bump shoulder's with. "Yes, Neverland is something of a child's bedtime story. But it comes from old pagan folklore of a creature that steals children away and turns them into monsters to be it's minion followers." He slowly sipped the last of his brandy and set the glass down, licking the droplets from his lips. "Pan might appear as just a flying human boy, but I've seen what he's capable of. He's a demon when the skin of a child."

He shrugged at the other's weariness. It was a silly tale, and not as bad a cursed place as some of the other things out on the seas. "Despite that, I've been a pretty nasty thorn in the royal navy's side. I've sunk or severely damaged over a dozen ships, looted twice as many merchant and trade vessels. Even eliminated a three forts all on my one lone ship. I've basically wiped out the equivalent of an army and fleet with my expertise strategy and tactics. How humiliated the king must be that one man with one ship can destroy his control over these waters." Killian felt very smug about his own long list of accomplishments. "Imagine if I became a privateer for France? These would no longer be English colonies."

[gunstellations]

In the world I love

_

In a different world

[beepborpdoodledorp]

ruin out here forcing me to learn how to actually draw the animatronics

[stardust-falling]

fandom psa; there is nothing whatsoever that is inherently "problematic" about shipping characters who are "found family."

Adoption is not found family. A blended family is not found family. A found family or chosen family is a group which, through circumstances or simply mutual affection, hold their relationship to one another with equal care and importance as family members ought to. It's not the same type of relationship.

It's not incest. It's not even pseudo-incest unless you want it to be. I personally don't care what people ship, but I'm absolutely tired of people misusing the term "found family" to just recreate the idea of a nuclear family and force those roles onto the entirety of a fandom. Sure, maybe characters who are found family may view themselves like siblings, or like a parent and child or aunt and niece, but they might also just see each other as friends-- and guess what? romantic partners too! That's technically the most widely-accepted form of found family/chosen family there is!

The whole point of found family/chosen family is to have the importance of "family" on relationships that lie outside the commonly-understood bounds of that relationship. Not to recreate the "mommy-daddy-daughter-son" dynamic with unrelated characters and use that headcanon or fanon dynamic to enforce your own morality or preferences on other fans.

[theology101]

Good move on running out because honestly? The hell is wrong with you?

Im a white person in fandom so I’ve heard “Fandom is unconsciously racist” for a a long time and I never really caught it until Wyll from BG3 and Maximus from Fallout. Those two examples, and how they’re treated by the fandom, is so starkly different from everyone else it makes me ill.

I get it, not everyone has to like every ship. I get people who personally don’t like Vaultknight - I want them to look into a mirror and question why. Because if Maximus was white, I can guarantee that there wouldn’t be an over 10x disparity between this ship.

Like, you OP. You decided to ship Lucy with her cousin, with whom she has two scenes with. Both of which involve her shutting him down immediately and never following up. Chet is pathetic and set up for an incest joke - that is his only interaction with Lucy.

How, in any way, is that better the Maximus? Like even if you don’t ship them, he objectively has done more for her, had more emotionally resonant moment, and share a genuine emotional connection to him

But no, lets ignore him because he’s black “boring.”

You all remember during Brown V Board of education they asked a group of children “Which doll is the Good Doll? Which one is the Bad Doll?” and consistently, regardless of Race, the kids almost universally said the White doll was Good and that Black doll was bad. In the seventy years since then, do y’all think American society has managed to erase that?

Of course not.

*Runs into Fallout fandom* Chet was Lucy's best love interest *Runs out*

[finncakes]

:/

[krotiation]

"You can't ship rhack, it's toxic!!" Wrong, that's exactly why I ship it